The Qur’anic root B D N (badan and budn)
Body and physical frame, bodily size, and sacrificial animals: from Pharaoh’s fate to the rites of hajj and people’s rights
Qur’anic and lexical forms
بَدَن
(badan)
Qur’anic noun with a second-person suffix; Yūnus 10:92
بُدْن
(budn)
Qur’anic plural of badanah; Al-Ḥajj 22:36
بَدَنَة
(badanah)
Lexical singular; this form itself does not occur in the Qur’an
أَبْدَان
(abdān)
Lexical plural of badan; not Qur’anic
بَادِن
(bādin)
Lexical adjective: large-bodied; not Qur’anic
بَدِين
(badīn)
Lexical adjective; not Qur’anic
بُدَّن
(buddan)
Adjectival plural in Zuhayr’s poem; distinct from Qur’anic budn
بَدُنَ، بَدَنَ
(baduna, badana)
Lexical verbs; absent from the Qur’an
بَدَانَة
(badānah)
Lexical verbal noun; not Qur’anic
1. Introduction and Qur’anic forms
بَدَن (badan) denotes the body or physical frame of a living being, especially a human being. The family also includes words for bodily size, corpulence, large-bodied animals, and a covering worn over the body.
B D N occurs twice in the Qur’an, in two verses of two surahs:
- بِبَدَنِكَ (bi-badanika) in Yūnus 10:92: “with your body”;
- وَالْبُدْنَ (wa-l-budna) in Al-Ḥajj 22:36: the plural of بَدَنَة (badanah), naming the large animals recognized in sacrificial rites.
Both occurrences are nouns; no verb of this root occurs in the Qur’an. This count agrees with the Qur’anic Arabic Corpus.
The vowels and structure distinguish the forms. Badan in Yūnus 10:92 refers to the body, whereas budn in Al-Ḥajj 22:36 is the plural of a different noun used for sacrificial animals.
الْبُدْنَ in Al-Ḥajj should therefore not be translated as human “bodies,” nor should بِبَدَنِكَ in Pharaoh’s story be treated as a name for sacrificial animals.
The forms belong to one lexical family, but each has its own established sense and referent.
2. The semantic core in early Arabic
Body and physical frame
In Maqāyīs al-lughah, Ibn Fāris identifies one semantic basis for the root:
«شَخْصُ الشَّيْءِ دُونَ شَوَاهُ، وَشَوَاهُ أَطْرَافُهُ»
shakhṣu al-shayʾi dūna shawāhu wa-shawāhu aṭrāfuhu
That is: “The main body of something, apart from its extremities; its shawā are its extremities.”
He then identifies بَدَنُ الْإِنْسَانِ as the human body, with the plural أَبْدَان (abdān).
The definition concerns the body’s tangible structure: the physical frame through which a person is recognized in the material world.
Ibn Fāris’s formulation should not imply that the head, hands, and feet are necessarily excluded from every Arabic use of badan.
Lisān al-ʿArab records several uses together: the human body, the main bodily frame as distinct from the head and extremities, and even a use of badan for an individual bodily part.
Badan could thus designate the body as a whole or, in certain uses, its main trunk.
A definition restricted to the trunk should not be imposed on every occurrence. In Yūnus 10:92, context must determine the role of the reference to Pharaoh’s body.
Bodily size and corpulence
Arabic sources record بَادِن (bādin) and بَدِين (badīn) for a large-bodied or corpulent person or animal. بَدُنَ (baduna) and بَدَنَ (badana) can likewise refer to becoming large-bodied or fat.
بَدَانَة (badānah) denotes corpulence in Arabic: an increase in bodily bulk or fatness.
Having a large body is nevertheless different from having a body at all. Every person has a body, but not every person is corpulent or large-bodied.
بِبَدَنِكَ in Yūnus 10:92 should therefore not become “with your corpulent body”: the verse provides no indication that Pharaoh’s fatness is its subject.
The distinction matters still more for sacrificial animals. Lexical sources relate badanah to size and corpulence, but its recognized ritual sense should not be reduced to the adjective “fat.”
Has a first physical image been established?
Ibn Fāris places the physical frame and bodily prominence at the center of the family. This analysis helps explain the relationship between body, bodily size, and the designation of large animals.
The relationship does not, however, establish a definite history for all derivatives. It remains uncertain whether the general word for body came first and supplied the animal’s name, or whether related uses developed alongside one another at different periods.
For understanding the Qur’an, identifying each form’s established sense matters more than constructing a definite account of the root’s earliest stage.
3. The root in pre-Islamic Arabic
A witness from Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā
A poem by Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā praises a commander who has prepared horses for war:
غَزَتْ سِمَانًا فَآبَتْ ضُمَّرًا خُدُجًا
ghazat simānan fa-ābat ḍummaran khudujan
مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَنَّبُوهَا بُدَّنًا عُقُقًا
min baʿdi mā jannabūhā buddanan ʿuquqan
Translation: “The horses went to war fat and returned lean, having foaled prematurely, after they had been led alongside, large-bodied and pregnant.” خُدُجًا refers to giving birth before term; “worn down” alone does not convey its full meaning.
The verse is transmitted in Zuhayr’s Dīwān and Ashʿār al-shuʿarāʾ al-sittah al-jāhiliyyīn. Lexical accounts explain بُدَّنًا as fat or large-bodied and عُقُقًا as describing pregnant animals.
The poet compares the horses before and after battle. They set out fat and pregnant, but returned lean and having foaled before term. بُدَّنًا supplies corpulence; pregnancy and premature foaling are expressed by other words in the verse.
بُدَّنًا here describes corpulence, rather than sacrificial animals.
Its distinction from الْبُدْنَ in Al-Ḥajj 22:36 matters. Their similar pronunciation does not mean that every large-bodied animal is also a badanah in ritual terminology.
Zuhayr’s verse attests bodily size and corpulence within this family in pre-Islamic Arabic. It does not by itself establish the precise contemporary range of the sacrificial term.
Badan in reference to old age
Maqāyīs al-lughah and Lisān al-ʿArab also record رَجُلٌ بَدَنٌ for an elderly man.
Ibn Fāris cites a verse attributed to al-Aswad ibn Yaʿfur containing الْبَدَنِ الْأَشْيَبِ: an elderly, gray-haired man.
Other versions of the same poet’s Dīwān, however, have الْبَائِسِ rather than الْبَدَنِ.
This variant requires caution. A single transmission does not establish the word’s presence in the pre-Islamic poem beyond dispute.
Old age should not be equated with corpulence. Aging may involve weakness and reduced physical capacity, whereas corpulence in the other use concerns increased bodily bulk.
Lexical sources record both senses, but the available evidence does not establish their precise historical relationship.
Badan as armor
Another use relevant to Yūnus 10:92 is badan meaning armor.
Lisān al-ʿArab records badan for a short coat of mail fitted over the bodily frame. Some lexicographers also apply it to armor more generally.
Ibn Fāris explains the name through the covering’s enclosing the body.
The relationship is linguistically intelligible: a name for a bodily part can be transferred to a covering worn over it.
The dictionary sense “armor” does not establish that every Qur’anic badan refers to armor. The verse’s sense requires contextual evidence.
4. فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ: Pharaoh’s body after drowning
Yūnus 10:92
فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ آيَةً ۚ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ عَنْ آيَاتِنَا لَغَافِلُونَ
fa-l-yawma nunajjīka bi-badanika li-takūna li-man khalfaka āyatan wa-inna kathīran mina al-nāsi ʿan āyātinā la-ghāfilūna
Translation: “Today We shall deliver you with your body, that you may be a sign for those after you; yet many people are heedless of Our signs.”
The verse follows the account of Pharaoh and his drowning.
In Yūnus 10:90, Pharaoh acknowledges the oneness of the deity of the Children of Israel as drowning overtakes him. In Yūnus 10:91, the response recalls his previous disobedience and corruption.
Verse 92 then speaks of his deliverance with his body.
This sequence raises a substantial question: if Pharaoh has drowned, what does his deliverance in the next verse mean?
The meaning of bi-badanika
بِبَدَنِكَ consists of the preposition بِـ, the noun بَدَن, and the second-person suffix كَ.
The body is attributed to Pharaoh himself: “your body.”
The noun denotes the physical body. Whether that body is living or dead is not established by badan alone.
The preceding context has introduced Pharaoh’s drowning. A strong reading is therefore that The God brought his body out of the situation in which he had been caught, so that it would serve as a sign for others.
On this reading, delivering the body is different from saving the life.
This distinction is essential. Reading نُنَجِّيكَ simply as “We shall keep you alive,” without attending to بِبَدَنِكَ, creates a difficulty with the drowning context.
Relating deliverance to bringing the body out of the water fits the narrative sequence.
Lexical and exegetical explanations of badan
In his commentary on Yūnus 10:92, al-Ṭabarī understands badan as Pharaoh’s body. He explains that it became visible after drowning so that those who doubted his death could see his fate.
His grammatical explanation also distinguishes saving a living person from bringing out a lifeless body.
In Al-Kashshāf, al-Zamakhsharī discusses several possibilities for بِبَدَنِكَ: the emergence of a lifeless body, its remaining complete, and the armor sense.
These accounts involve two different levels of explanation.
The first concerns the lexical meaning of badan. The second concerns the event’s circumstances: did the body emerge intact, was it clothed or armored, and did people recognize it?
The two levels should be kept distinct.
The verse itself speaks of Pharaoh’s body and his becoming a sign. It does not specify the point on the shore, who saw the body, or how long it remained.
Can bi-badanika mean “with your armor”?
Lisān al-ʿArab reports that the early lexicographer Thaʿlab interpreted بِبَدَنِكَ as Pharaoh’s armor.
Al-Akhfash, by contrast, rejected this reading as unsuitable.
The armor interpretation is therefore not a modern invention; it has a place in the history of lexical explanation and exegesis.
Recognizing the attested sense is different from preferring it in Yūnus 10:92.
The verse provides no independent indication of Pharaoh’s armor. It does not say that he possessed distinctive armor, that it identified him, or that only his armor was brought out of the water.
Drowning and the body’s becoming visible have a more direct relationship with the general bodily sense.
“With your body” is therefore preferred. “With your armor” is a recorded lexical possibility for which sufficient contextual evidence of priority is lacking.
لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ آيَةً: a sign for whom?
The stated purpose is that Pharaoh should become a sign for those after or behind him.
Two directions of meaning can be considered: those coming after him in time, and those remaining after him or following him in the event itself.
The readings can converge. His fate becoming visible to people close to the event could supply a lesson subsequently transmitted to later generations.
لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ does not establish, without further evidence, that Pharaoh’s body must remain materially visible until the end of history.
The verse states that he becomes a sign, but does not specify how long his body is kept or how awareness of his fate is transmitted.
Does the verse identify a mummy in a museum?
Yūnus 10:92 is sometimes connected with the mummies of Egyptian rulers.
The verse itself does not provide Pharaoh’s historical name, a place where the body is kept, an embalming method, or a discovery date.
The existence of ancient Egyptian mummies does not by itself establish that any one of them belongs to the Pharaoh of Moses’ story.
نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ should likewise not become “We shall keep your body intact for thousands of years.” That qualification is absent from the text.
The lexical point is more limited: badan denotes the physical body; in this context, the body’s remaining or becoming visible after drowning serves as a sign of Pharaoh’s fate.
Establishing that body’s historical identity requires a separate investigation.
5. وَالْبُدْنَ: large animals in the rites of hajj
Al-Ḥajj 22:36
وَالْبُدْنَ جَعَلْنَاهَا لَكُمْ مِنْ شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ لَكُمْ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ ۖ فَاذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا صَوَافَّ ۖ فَإِذَا وَجَبَتْ جُنُوبُهَا فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْقَانِعَ وَالْمُعْتَرَّ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ سَخَّرْنَاهَا لَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
wa-l-budna jaʿalnāhā lakum min shaʿāʾiri llāhi lakum fīhā khayrun fa-dhkurū isma llāhi ʿalayhā ṣawāffa fa-idhā wajabat junūbuhā fa-kulū minhā wa-aṭʿimū al-qāniʿa wa-l-muʿtarra kadhālika sakhkharnāhā lakum laʿallakum tashkurūna
Translation: “We have made the sacrificial camels among the ritual signs of The God for you; there is good in them for you. Mention the name of The God over them as they stand. When their sides fall, eat from them and feed the contented needy person and the needy person who approaches. Thus We have subjected them to you, that you may give thanks.”
The structure of budn
بُدْن (budn) is the plural of بَدَنَة (badanah). In ritual use it designates a large animal set apart for sacrifice.
Lisān al-ʿArab records badanah for camels and cattle taken to Mecca as offerings.
Al-Jawharī likewise records it for a she-camel or cow sacrificed at Mecca.
These sources explain the name through bodily size and fatness: the animals were raised and fattened for sacrifice.
The relationship between bodily frame and sacrificial animal is thus intelligible: these animals were recognized for their large bodies.
Badanah nevertheless became a recognized ritual designation. It should not be glossed as “any fat animal.”
Does al-budn mean only camels, or also cattle?
The question requires distinguishing lexical evidence from Qur’anic context.
Lexical sources record badanah for both camels and cattle. In discussing Al-Ḥajj 22:36, al-Ṭabarī also transmits reports that include cattle alongside camels within the designation.
Camels are nevertheless the more prominent referent in this family.
صَوَافَّ describes the animals standing in alignment. فَإِذَا وَجَبَتْ جُنُوبُهَا speaks of their sides falling to the ground.
This image fits the sacrifice of camels while standing. Some commentators accordingly restrict the primary sense of budn to camels and examine the inclusion of cattle separately. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī reports disagreement over cattle’s inclusion; that belongs to the history of interpretation and does not independently establish usage at revelation.
“Sacrificial camels” is therefore a clear, preferred base translation for Al-Ḥajj 22:36, while the lexical article should also report badanah’s attested application to cattle.
An important distinction follows: a noun’s broad dictionary range does not by itself establish that every referent is equally intended in a particular verse.
Conversely, the prominence of camels does not mean that the Arabic word was never applied to cattle.
Is every large camel a badanah?
In ritual use, bodily size alone does not define badanah.
A large camel kept for carrying loads, riding, or another purpose is not necessarily in the same situation as an animal designated for sacrifice.
Al-Ḥajj 22:36 places al-budn among the ritual signs of The God. The animals are thus introduced in a specific ritual setting.
Three matters should be distinguished: the animal’s general name, its bodily size, and its position within sacrifice.
These may be related, but do not have the same meaning.
شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ: the animals’ name and ritual position
The Qur’an says:
«جَعَلْنَاهَا لَكُمْ مِنْ شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ»
jaʿalnāhā lakum min shaʿāʾiri llāhi
The animals have been placed among the ritual signs.
شَعَائِر (shaʿāʾir) is from SH ʿ R, not B D N.
The meaning “religious sign” or “ritual sign” is therefore supplied by a separate statement in the verse, rather than extracted from B D N itself.
This distinction prevents two opposing errors.
The first would treat the sacrificial animal as a purely abstract symbol, losing the actual act, the name of The God, food, and the verse’s other instructions.
The second would turn every historical sacrificial practice—marking, decorating, the number of participants, or procedural details—into a Qur’anic command without supporting evidence.
The verse identifies these animals as ritual signs, but does not set out every subsequent ritual detail.
Ṣawāff and wajabat junūbuhā
صَوَافَّ (ṣawāff) belongs to Ṣ F F and here concerns the animals standing in alignment.
B D N itself does not mean standing; that meaning comes from the separate word.
وَجَبَتْ جُنُوبُهَا refers to the animals’ sides falling to the ground. Al-Ṭabarī explains it as their falling after the sacrificial incision.
Here too, “falling” comes from وَجَبَتْ and “sides” from جُنُوب.
Although the sentence as a whole describes sacrifice, budn itself does not mean making the sacrificial incision, slaughtering, or falling to the ground.
The animals’ benefit and people’s rights
After introducing al-budn, the verse says:
«لَكُمْ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ»
lakum fīhā khayrun
This good relates in context both to benefiting from the animals and to sacrifice.
The Qur’an then commands eating from them and feeding two groups:
«فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْقَانِعَ وَالْمُعْتَرَّ»
fa-kulū minhā wa-aṭʿimū al-qāniʿa wa-l-muʿtarra
Lexical and exegetical sources differ over the precise distinction between الْقَانِع and الْمُعْتَرّ. One reading identifies a contented person or recipient who does not ask, and a person who approaches. Other reports understand qāniʿ as someone who asks.
That disagreement belongs in the studies of those words, rather than in the definition of budn.
The sentence nevertheless makes clear that the benefit of the sacrificial meat does not remain with the animal’s owner alone. Both eating and feeding others occur in the command.
Al-Ḥajj 22:37 further states that neither the animals’ meat nor their blood reaches The God; human mindfulness is what matters.
The connection presents sacrifice as a real act accompanied by remembrance of The God, mindfulness, and human benefit.
Forqan’s published article, Hajj in the Qur’an: Abraham’s Way, the Rites, and People’s Rights, explores this more fully, preserving the reality of the rites, the rights of those in need, and the place of mindfulness together.
This is sufficient here to clarify budn’s lexical place. The obligation of sacrifice for different groups, the conditions of hajj, and distribution of meat belong to the separate study of hajj.
7. Translation proposals for Forqan
For badan in its general sense, “body” and “physical frame” are suitable. The choice depends on context.
“With your body” suits بِبَدَنِكَ in Yūnus 10:92. The explanation can clarify that the passage concerns Pharaoh’s physical fate after drowning.
Although “your armor” has support in certain lexical reports, it is not preferred for the base translation. The possibility is better addressed in the study.
“Your mummified body,” “your intact and unaltered corpse,” and “your body that will be preserved forever” are not direct renderings: they add qualifications absent from the word itself.
For budn in Al-Ḥajj 22:36, the principal proposal is “sacrificial camels.”
It conveys both the word’s prominent referent and its ritual setting to the English reader.
The study should explain that several Arabic sources also include cattle within badanah’s range. This matters for the word’s scope, but need not require changing the base translation.
“Bodies,” “large bodies,” “fat animals,” and “corpulent livestock” do not adequately render al-budn here, since they lose the recognized sacrificial designation.
“Sacrifices” alone is too broad and weakens the distinction between this noun and a general sacrifice or hady.
8. Conclusion
B D N occurs only twice in the Qur’an, in two nominal forms: badan in Yūnus 10:92 and budn in Al-Ḥajj 22:36.
In early Arabic the family concerns the physical body, bodily size, and corpulence. Lexical sources also record old age and armor.
Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā’s pre-Islamic poetic witness uses بُدَّن for large-bodied, fat animals. This descriptive use should not be equated with the ritual noun badanah.
In Yūnus 10:92, badan preferably refers to Pharaoh’s body. The drowning context indicates the body’s emergence or becoming visible as a sign for others, rather than his life being saved. Some early sources record the armor interpretation, but the verse provides insufficient evidence to prefer it.
In Al-Ḥajj 22:36, budn names large sacrificial animals. Camels are the prominent contextual referent, although lexical sources also record cattle within badanah’s range.
The animals are designated as ritual signs. Their being signs, standing in alignment, the mention of The God’s name, their sides falling, and feeding those in need are understood from the verse’s other words and constructions, rather than from B D N alone.
A suitable final definition for Forqan:
In Arabic, B D N concerns the body and physical frame, with related branches involving bodily size and corpulence. Qur’anic badan refers to Pharaoh’s body after drowning, while budn names large sacrificial animals, especially camels, in the rites of hajj. Their relationship with bodily frame and size is intelligible, but each form must be understood in context. The root alone establishes neither how Pharaoh’s body was preserved nor all the rules and details of sacrifice.